Maj. Gerald D. Nordley, USAF (ret.), FBIS, is an astronautical engineering consultant who focuses on interstellar travel and other space-related subjects. He has degrees in physics and systems management, has led orbital operations and advanced space propulsion research, and has written articles and technical papers on advanced propulsion subjects (interstellar propulsion, antimatter, particle beams, and tethers). In the early 1980s he served as chief of the advanced propulsion branch at the former U.S. Air Force Rocket Propulsion Laboratory at Edwards AFB. He is also, as G. David Nordley, an award-winning science fiction and science writer and illustrator. He serves as Treasurer of CONTACT: Cultures of the Imagination, which he describes as an interdisciplinary educational group focused on the evolution and eventual interaction of intelligent beings.